Our information enclosed herein is primarily obtained from interviews conducted by HRNK Director of Programs and Editor Rosa Park in July 2018, HRNK Senior Adviser Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr. in March 2018, and by HRNK Senior Adviser David Hawk, author of HRNK’s “Hidden Gulag” report series, in Seoul, South Korea in March 2015 and July 2016.[1]

Ms. Park’s interview details the life of a young girl turned woman in the DPRK and the repetitive sexual assault she endured along her journey–even amongst those who helped her escape–inside North Korea and then as she courageously endured and made her way to freedom in the Republic of Korea.

Mr. Hawk’s “Hidden Gulag” reports document and highlight North Korea’s system of political imprisonment and oppression, manifested most severely against prisoners in its kwan-li-so (political prison camp) and kyo-hwa-so (re-education through forced labor camp) detention facilities.

Due to reprisals, fear, precedent, and intimidation by the DPRK regime against victims and their families, some of whom are still trapped inside the DPRK, not all interviewees are comfortable sharing their names for purposes of this report. In these cases, these women either have an annotated pseudonym or are referred to as “anonymous.”

As such, please find information on (1) the victimization of women and girls in the political prison system; (2) human trafficking, particularly against DPRK women and girls who flee to China; (3) abortion, violence against women, and infanticide; and (4) the treatment of women in DPRK society, including in labor brigades and the military.

In September 2015, HRNK published “The Hidden Gulag: Gender Repression & Prisoner Disappearances,” detailing the systematic targeting of DPRK women who had fled to China, as evidenced by the expansion of a prison labor camp referred to as Kyo-hwa-so No. 12, Jongo-ri, between 2008 and 2009. Through the use of former prisoner testimony and satellite imagery analysis, HRNK concluded that this facility expanded during this time as a result of the increased incarceration of female prisoners in the DPRK, most of whom were reportedly arrested for escaping the DPRK into China (typically for survival reasons). Our research “shows Pyongyang’s human rights situation remains abysmal,” HRNK Executive Director Greg Scarlatoiu said. “Women—desperate to ensure their families’ survival after catastrophic famine in the 1990s—have been excessively victimized.”

To cope with economic hardship, numerous women sought to leave tightly closed North Korea in search of opportunities to work or trade, mainly by crossing into China. According to Scarlatoiu and “The Hidden Gulag” report, “after their forced repatriation from China, thousands of North Korean women have been arbitrarily arrested—and detention facilities for women have notably expanded.”

In particular, authorities have since 2008 added a new women’s section at the facility known as Kyo-hwa-so No. 12 in Jongo-ri, North Hamgyong Province, an impoverished region in the northernmost part of the country along the Chinese border. The new women’s section holds more than 1,000 prisoners.

"There is a kyo-hwa-so in Hamheung where the North Korean authorities imprisoned women forcibly repatriated from China. As more women were forcibly repatriated from China, the authorities decided to open a facility closer to the border to shorten the time needed to transport the prisoners. This is the reason behind the expansion of the kyo-hwa-so at Jongo-ri," said Jung Gwang-il, former Kwan-li-so No. 15 (Yodok) political prisoner.

David Hawk, a veteran human rights investigator, interviewed DPRK escapees over two months and worked with Colorado-based AllSource Analysis (ASA), a leading global provider of high-resolution satellite imagery, to produce the report, HRNK’s fourth on the topic since 2003.

“The North Korean gulag is no longer hidden. Its web of political prisons and labor camps—many visible on Google Earth—is there for all to see,” Hawk said. “But the men and women trapped inside this are hidden still, subject to enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, and forced labor under extremely harsh conditions.”

“These political prisoners, especially women, are the most vulnerable persons in the DPRK, and monitoring the camps through satellite imagery and analysis gives us the best possibility of bringing camp restructuring and the plight of political prisoners to light,” said DPRK expert and imagery analyst Joseph S. Bermudez Jr.

HRNK Co-chair Emeritus Roberta Cohen has called on the international community to demand an accounting of all those detained, missing, or dead in DPRK detention. “Women in particular are fleeing North Korea in ever greater numbers. When they are apprehended, they are subjected to deliberate starvation, persecution, and punishment. Their situation cries out for international attention,” Cohen said, noting that countless more DPRK women who cross into China are sold or forced into marriage or prostitution, as evidenced in another HRNK report, “Lives for Sale.”[2]

Mrs. Choi Min-gyang was born in Kyongwon, North Hamgyong Province. In 1998, she fled to China owing to the acute famine conditions in North Hamgyong Province. She lived in Yanbian, the Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China, for ten years. Caught as an illegal immigrant by the Chinese police in 2008, she was forcibly repatriated to the Onsong Bo-wi-bu (State Security Department) Ku-ryu-jang (detention-investigation facility) and held for twenty-five days.

At that time, according to Mrs. Choi, there were about 300 refouled persons under detention and investigation by the Onsong Bo-wi-bu, about 80% of whom were women suspected to have been en route to South Korea. A few of the detainees were in single cells, but most were held in very crowded cells spilling into the hallways. Mrs. Choi reports no personal mistreatment but recalls that there was very little to eat.

As Mrs. Choi had lived in China for ten years, it seemed she was not in the process of defecting to South Korea. As a result, she was transferred to the Chongjin An-jeon-bu (Ministry of People’s Safety) Jip-kyul-so (collection- detention facility) awaiting charges of “border crossing”—leaving North Korea without permission. During the month she was held there, there were, she reports, some 400 to 500 persons detained. Again, about 80% were women. And again, there was very little to eat.

Mrs. Choi spent an additional 100 days at the Ranam Gu-yeuk District Ku-ryu-jang (detention-investigation facility) in Chongjin awaiting “trial,” a lawyer-less five minute proceeding where the judge merely asked her if she admitted to the crime. She did and affixed a thumbprint to her confession. She was sentenced to three years at Kyo-hwa-so No. 12 Jongo-ri. Arriving at Kyo-hwa-so No. 12 in mid-2008, there were already about 1,000 women and 4,000 men, although the women had just been introduced the year before. Mrs. Choi’s cell was so crowded that the women could barely sit down. Her first work assignment was at a construction unit to build more cells for the women prisoners. She worked in the construction unit for a year and had to sleep sitting on the floor during that time.

Mrs. Choi was then assigned to the “corn work unit,” which made fertilizer in the winter time by mixing the frozen toilet waste with dirt. She was able to eat only watery soup made with beans and corn stalks. While Mrs. Choi weighed 57 kg (125 lb) before being forcibly repatriated, food deprivation, hunger, and weight loss began immediately upon repatriation. This continued during “pre-trial” detention and at Kyo-hwa-so No. 12 Jongo-ri, resulting in significant weight loss. Due to starvation, Mrs. Choi was transferred to the ho-yak-ban (sick unit) and then to the byung-ban (very sick unit). The prison authorities eventually sent for her family to come get her once she lost consciousness when they believed she was near death. At that point, Mrs. Choi had served two years and three months of her three-year sentence. She weighed 27 kg (59.5 lb) upon release and was unable to walk. It took her a full year to regain her health.

Fed up with North Korea, Mrs. Choi’s husband successfully fled to South Korea and used his resettlement grant from South Korea to hire a broker to bring his wife to Seoul, where she arrived in October 2012. HRNK interviewed Mrs. Choi in April 2015.

Ms. Kim Min-ji went to China in July 2005 at the age of 19. She was caught by human traffickers and sold to a rural Chinese man. Ms. Kim lived with him in Liaoning Province in northeast China until late 2008. Knowing what would happen to her if repatriated to North Korea, she more-or-less accepted her fate. Her former trafficker, however, was arrested and gave the Chinese police her name and location. As a result, Ms. Kim was arrested and sent to Dandong, China, where “illegal immigrants” were held for (often monthly) repatriation to Sinuiju in North Korea.[3]

Ms. Kim was held for a month at the Sinuiju Bo-wi-bu (State Security Department) Ku-ryu-jang (detention-investigation facility). Living in China for three and one-half years as a trafficked bride, her case had no ostensible political connection, such as meeting South Koreans or participating in a Korean-Chinese church while in China. So, Ms. Kim was transferred to the An-jeon-bu (Ministry of People’s Safety) jip-kyu-lso (collection-detention facility) to wait for the police from Hoeryong to take her back to her hometown for trial. She was held for only ten days at a bo-wan-so ku-ryu-jang (detention-investigation police station) before a judge told her that since she spent three and one-half years in China, she would be sentenced to two and one-half years at Kyo-hwa-so No. 12 Jongo-ri.

In late 2008/early 2009, there were about 1,000 women prisoners at Jongo-ri, according to Ms. Kim. Soon after, 200 additional women prisoners were detained there also. Then in 2010, a number of women were released because they had contracted a communicable disease. In October 2010, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Korean Workers’ Party, a large-scale amnesty brought the women prisoner population to about 800.

At Jongo-ri, Ms. Kim was assigned to the wig-making work unit. Because she was one of the better wig sewers, Ms. Kim was allowed to eat more food than the other prisoners. Therefore, she was much better off than other women prisoners at Jongo-ri. “Lots of women lost weight,” and “many died of malnutrition.” Ms. Kim was held for two years and one month and released in September 2011. Upon release, rather than being given back her North Korean citizen ID card, she received a document certifying that she had been released from the kyo-hwa-so. This document would let any police or other official know immediately that she was formerly imprisoned as a “serious crime” lawbreaker.

Ms. Kim waited just two months before fleeing again to China. She returned to the man who had bought her six years earlier, but someone in the village reported her to the Chinese police and she was again arrested and sent to Dandong for repatriation to Sinuiju. She was again turned over to the An-jeon-bu (Ministry of People’s Safety) jip-kyul-so (collection-detention facility) to await the Hoeryong police who would take her back to Hoeryong by train.

In China, Japan, or South Korea, traveling by train the distance from Sinuiju to Hoeryong would take several hours. In North Korea, however, it can take up to ten days. En route, while waiting three days for a railroad bridge to be repaired and fearing what she would face if convicted of leaving North Korea without permission for a second time, Ms. Kim talked the police into removing the handcuffs from the group of women prisoners being taken back to Hoeryong. While the police guards were sleeping off a night of drinking, she and another woman prisoner escaped and immediately fled to China. In April 2014, Ms. Kim arrived in South Korea. HRNK interviewed her in April 2015.

Ms. Kim witnessed forced abortions at the An-jeon-bu (Ministry of People’s Safety) jip-kyul-so (collection-detention facility) during both of her forcible repatriations. The first time, in 2008, a pregnant woman was forced to take some sort of medicine, after which the baby aborted. The second time, in 2012, the holding center authorities had a baby surgically removed from the womb of a woman who was in the “last days of pregnancy.” The baby was killed.

iii. Anonymous Former Female Prisoner (Imprisoned March 2010 to November 2012)

iii.익명의 이전 여성 수감자 (2010년3월 부터2012년11월 까지 수감됨)

A third former female prisoner at Kyo-hwa-so No. 12 Jongo-ri asked to remain anonymous.[4]In 1998, she first went to China to earn money. At that time, however, her children remained in North Korea, so she would travel back and forth to see them and share her earnings. One of her daughters later fled to China and defected to South Korea. This anonymous former prisoner was arrested by Chinese police and repatriated to Sinuiju with a group of 30 other North Koreans in 2010.

The Bo-wi-bu (State Security Department) police beat her and banged her head against a wall because her daughter had “defected” to South Korea. After 15 days, this former prisoner was sent to the Sinuiju An-jeon-bu (Ministry of People’s Safety) Jip-kyul-so (collection-detention facility), where she was held for two months with about 20 men and about 50 women. At Sinuiju, she collected feces for fertilizer and developed severe frostbite due to the extreme cold. This former prisoner was transferred to Chongjin Jip-kyul-so (collection-detention facility) and held for another two months. She received food only once every five days. After Chongjin, she was transferred to the Songpyong (district) An-jeon-bu (Ministry of People’s Safety) Ku-ryu-jang (detention-investigation facility) for another three months and was sentenced to five years at Kyo-hwa-so No. 12 Jongo-ri. Based on her recollection, there may have been lawyers and sentencing at her 30-minute trial, but this former prisoner was too malnourished and sick to talk to them. Further, “only people with money could talk to lawyers,” she said.

The former prisoner weighed 79 kg (174 lb.) at the time she was forcibly repatriated from China to North Korea. But after these successive detentions, her weight dropped to just 34 kg (74 lb.). Because of this, the authorities did not want to take her in when she first arrived at Jongo-ri. They changed their minds, however, when bribed by a gift of some fish. This former prisoner had a son who had previously been sent to Kyo-hwa-so No. 12 Jongo-ri. She found out, though, that he had died there before she arrived.

Fed only rotten corn and watery soup, she was unable to regain weight. Nonetheless, she was initially assigned to the tree-cutting work unit where she dragged cut logs to be used as firewood for the prison authorities. At the time, there were some 10 work units of about 100 or more female prisoners, just over 1,000 women prisoners overall. She was then assigned to one of the agricultural work units. She said that the male prisoners mined copper to be sold in China and farmed wheat to be sold locally to buy food for the prisoners.

Her daughter in South Korea sent money to brokers so relatives could bring food to her mother in prison. Her daughter also sent more money to a broker to arrange the former prisoner’s release. (The prison authorities gave the broker a list of tools they needed at the prison, and upon the delivery of shovels and other tools, they released her.) After release, she was kept under police surveillance because she had not completed her sentence. Fearful of re-arrest, she donned a wig to disguise herself and again fled to China. Her daughter sent money to a broker to bring her mother to South Korea, but the broker tricked the former prisoner now again in China and ran off with the money. So, her daughter sent more money, and this time an honest broker arranged her trip to South Korea via Laos and Thailand.

Arriving in South Korea in July 2014, this former prisoner now lives in suburban Seoul, close by the daughter who kept her alive and rescued her. She still has thrombosis, a circulatory ailment, stemming from the severe frostbite incurred while in detention in North Korea. HRNK interviewed her in April 2015.

Note: HRNK’s second edition of Hidden Gulag (2012) has some 60 prisoner interviews. In addition, hundreds of former North Koreans testified to the UN Commission of Inquiry in 2013. Many of these testimonies are available online.[5]

In September 2015, HRNK published a list of unaccounted prisoners in the “Sorimchon” or “Revolutionizing Zone” of Political Prison Camp No. 15, Yodok, based on the memory and permission of Mr. Jung Gwang-il, Founder and Executive Director of No Chain: The Association of North Korean Political Victims and Their Families.[6] Mr. Jung prepared a list and biographies of 181 Sorimchon prisoners, which is appended to this report, on the basis of his three-year imprisonment in the Sorimchon section of Kwan-li-so No. 15 Yodok.
2015년9월HRNK는 노체인(북한 정치범 수용소 피해자 가족 협회)의 설립자이자 사무총장인 정광일씨의 기억과 허락에 기반하여 요덕15호 정치범 수용소의 “소림촌” 또는 “혁명화구역”에서 생사불명인 수감자들의 명단을 발표했습니다. 요덕15호 관리소의 소림촌 구역에서의3년간의 수감생활에 기초하여 정광일씨는181명 가량의 소림촌 수감자 명단과 그들이 살아온 이야기를 준비했고 이는 본 제출서에 첨부되었습니다.

Based on Mr. Jung’s memory, women account for 45 of the 181 prisoners at Sorimchon, inside Kwan-li-so No. 15, that he could recall from his time in detention. Of these 45, the fate and whereabouts of 41 are unknown; three died in detention; and one is in the United States. Satellite imagery confirms the demolition of the Sorimchon section of the political prison camp between September 2013 and October 2014.[7]
정광일씨의 기억에 따르면 그가 구금 될 당시 요덕15호 관리소 소림촌 구역 181명의 수감자 중 여성은45명 이었습니다. 이45명의 여성들 중 41명의 생사와 소재는 파악되지 않았고 세 명은 수감 중 사망했으며 한 명은 미국에 있습니다. 위성 사진을 통해 2013년9월에서2014년10월 사이 정치범 수용소 소림촌 구역이 철거된 사실이 확인되었습니다.
The international community needs to insist on an accounting of the fate and whereabouts of the North Korean persons formerly deprived of their liberty for reasons not permitted under contemporary international law, including conventions to which North Korea has subscribed. In this process, the North Korean authorities may attempt to erase evidence and eliminate witnesses. In order to protect the prisoners, it is essential that the international community insist on accountability.
북한이 스스로 가입한 협약과 현대 국제법에 허용되지 않는 수단으로 자유를 박탈당한 북한 사람들의 생사와 소재에 대한 해명을 국제 사회는 촉구해야 합니다. 이러한 과정 중에 북한 당국이 증거를 인멸하고 증인을 제거하려 시도할 수 있습니다. 수감자들을 보호하기 위하여 국제 사회의 책임을 강조하는 것이 중요합니다.2) Trafficking Women and Children Fleeing North Korea into China[8]2) 북한에서 중국으로 도망간 여성과 여자아이에 대한 인신매매

a) Overview of the Cycle of Violence against Woman and Girls Fleeing North Koreaa) 탈북 여성과 여자아이에게 반복되는 폭력에 대한 개요
The “Report of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” presented to the Human Rights Council on February 7, 2014, recognizes the great gender inequality throughout the country. Women are suffering egregious abuses and violence. The DPRK is also facing an increase in domestic violence and the great economic crisis with consequent poverty and starvation “have resulted in women and girls becoming vulnerable to trafficking and increased engagement in transactional sex and prostitution.”[9]
2014년2월7일 유엔 인권이사회에 제출된“북한 인권조사 위원회 보고서”는 북한 전역에 존재하는 극심한 성차별을 보고하였습니다.여성들은 심각한 학대와 폭력을 겪고 있습니다. 북한에서 가정 폭력은 증가하고 있고,심각한 경제난으로 인한 가난과 굶주림으로 여성과 여자아이들은 인신매매에 취약해졌으며, 대가성 성관계 및 성매매가 더욱 활발히 이루어지고 있습니다.According to statistics by the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Unification (MOU), the number of DPRK female refugees in the first half of 2018 amounted to just 430 in comparison to 58 male refugees.[10] 87% are DPRK women so far this year, representing the highest percentage of female North Korean refugees arriving in the Republic of Korea since 1998 (as far as the MOU’s data shows). These statistics for the first half of 2018 also represent a projected decline in the number of North Koreans able to escape their country and find refuge in the Republic of Korea. These numbers may be the lowest since Kim Jong-un took power (end of 2011). 2012 to 2017 also showed a marked decrease in North Koreans arriving in the ROK, often attributed to Kim Jong-un’s policies and practices along the Sino-NK border (in addition to China’s increased security measures as well).
대한민국 통일부의 통계에 따르면2018년 상반기 북한 남성 난민이58명인 것에 비해 여성 난민의 수는 430명에 이르고 있습니다. 올해 현재까지 북한 여성 난민의 비율은 87%이며1998년 이래 남한으로 탈북한 북한 여성 난민의 비율 중 가장 높은 비율입니다.2018년 상반기 수치는 또한 남한으로 탈북 가능한 인원 수의 예측된 감소를 보여줍니다.이는2011년 말 김정은이 집권한 이래 가장 낮은 수치입니다. 또한2012년부터2017년 까지의 수치는 중국 보안 조치의 강화와 북중 국경을 다루는 김정은의 정책에 따른 남한으로 탈북한 북한 사람들의 뚜렷한 감소를 보여주고 있습니다.

According to the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in 2016, sexual exploitation is the most common form of human trafficking and the victims are predominantly women and girls.[11] Between 70 to 90% of the DPRK women crossing the border—of an estimated total of 100,000 to 200,000 DPRK defectors in China—suffer from abuses by the Chinese guards along the border and are targeted by Chinese marriage brokers.[12] Chinese traffickers usually prefer young girls since they can be sold at higher prices to men in the Chinese countryside. The one-child policy (which is now a two-child policy)[13] and the cultural preference for male babies have led to a shortage of marriage-age Chinese women. Many times, women who cross the border are sold as “wives” or start working as sex workers in boarding houses, living under physical, sexual, mental, and emotional abuse.[14] There is no possibility for them to ask for help.
2016년 유엔 마약 범죄 사무소(UNODC)가 작성한 세계 인신매매 실태보고서에 따르면 성착취는 인신매매의 가장 흔한 형태이고 희생자는 주로 여성과 여자아이들입니다. 국경을 넘는70~90%의 북한 여성들(중국에는 약 10만 명에서20만 명의 탈북자가 있는 것으로 추정됩니다)은 국경 근처에서 중국 국경경비대로부터 학대를 당하고 중국인 중매쟁이의 목표물이 됩니다. 중국 인신매매범들은 주로 중국의 농촌 지역에 있는 남자들에게 높은 가격으로 팔 수 있는 젊은 여자아이들을 선호합니다. 한 자녀 정책(현재는 두 자녀 정책)과 남아선호 문화로 인해 혼기가 찬 중국 여성의 수가 감소하였습니다. 국경을 넘는 여성들은 많은 경우“신부”로 팔리거나 여관에서 성매매 종사자로 일 하면서 신체적, 성적, 정신적 및 감정적 학대를 겪습니다.그러나 이들이 도움을 요청할 수 있는 방법은 없습니다. China is intensifying the repatriation of DPRK refugees, considered “illegal economic migrants” in the country, in violation of its legal obligations under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, and the 2007 Refugees Protection and International Migration document.[15] Pursuant to these documents, DPRK refugees legally qualify as political refugees and refugees sur place, as they face a credible fear of prosecution and punishments upon their forcible repatriation to the DPRK.[16]
중국은 자신들이 조인한 1951년 난민의 지위에 관한 협약, 1967년 난민의 지위에 관한 의정서 그리고2007년 난민 보호와 국제 이주에 대한 문서에 명기된 법적 의무를 위반하면서까지 북한 난민을“불법 경제 이주민”으로 간주하여 송환에 박차를 가하고 있습니다. 이 문서들에 따르면 북한 난민들은 북한으로 강제 송환 이후 마주할 기소와 처벌에 대해 충분히 근거 있는 공포를 가지고 있기에 정치적 난민과“현장 난민”으로서의 법적 자격을 갖추었습니다.
As a result, DPRK female refugees rely completely on their “husband,” having no access to health care or other State assistance, which puts them in an even more precarious situation, facing physical abuse or sexual exploitation.[17] Many are forced to accept the slave-wife condition in disguise,[18] or they can continue on the road of escape by trying to reach other countries in Southeast Asia, where they will, yet again, face inhumane conditions.
탈북 여성들은 의료 서비스나 다른 국가의 지원도 받지 못한 채 신체적 학대 또는 성적 착취를 당하면서도 그들을 더욱 위태로운 상태로 몰아 넣는 그들의“남편”에게 전적으로 의지합니다. 많은 사람들은 노예-아내 상태를 받아들이도록 강요받거나 또 다시 비인간적인 상태에 처하게 될 동남아시아로 도망갑니다.

Countless DPRK women are victimized in this manner because they are vulnerable as they try to escape the brutal conditions of their home country. In China, the women and girls are fodder for often-rural men looking for wives. They may have arrived in China with young children too, only to be cruelly separated by human traffickers. The cycle of violence and oppression once again continues as these women and girls are held against their will or are coerced into submission out of fear that the Chinese family will report them to authorities. Additionally, women and girls impregnated by Chinese men are further victimized when the Chinese government does not recognize the children they bear as legal residents otherwise entitled to basic rights to education and other public services.[19]
수없이 많은 북한 여성들이 자국의 잔혹한 상황으로부터 도피하려 한 이유로 보호 받지 못한 채 이러한 방식으로 희생되고 있습니다. 여성들과 여자아이들은 중국에서 농촌 지역 남성의 신부밖에 되지 못합니다.아이와 함께 중국에 오더라도 인신매매단은 그들을 잔인하게 떼어 놓습니다. 여성들과 여자아이들에 대한 폭력과 학대는 중국인 가족이 그들을 당국에 고발할 수 있다는 공포 때문에 그들의 의지에 반하여 반복 됩니다. 더하여, 중국 정부가 여성과 여자아이들을 교육 및 기타 공공 서비스에 대한 기본권을 가진 합법적 거주자로 인정하지 않기에 중국 남성들에 의해 임신 된 그들은 더 많은 피해를 입습니다. b) Testimony of North Korean Women Escapees b) 탈북 여성의 증언 i. Kim Jeong-ah i. 김정아
Executive Director Kim Jeong-ah of Tongil Mom, an advocacy group of North Korean women who seek reunification with their children whom they left behind in China, shared the following at a forum on human trafficking in China at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C.:
중국에 두고 온 아이들과 재결합을 바라는 북한 여성들에 대한 옹호 단체 통일맘연합회의 사무총장 김정아씨는 워싱턴D.C. 헤리티지 재단에서 열린 중국 내 인신매매에 대한 포럼에서 다음과 같이 말했습니다.Naturally, women only share their stories with friends they are very close with and trust. This is because women defectors feel shameful about their experiences. It is extremely difficult for me when I share what I have been through. I was sold for 19,000 Chinese yuan (about USD 2,800). Moreover, I have to confess the fact that I abandoned my child, whether it was against my will or not.[20]탈북 여성들은 그들의 이야기를 매우 가깝고 믿을 수 있는 친구들에게만 나눕니다. 이는 탈북 여성들이 그들의 경험을 수치스럽게 생각하기 때문입니다.저 또한 제가 겪은 경험을 나누기가 매우 어려웠습니다. 저는19,000 중국 위안(미화2,800불)에 팔렸습니다. 그리고 저는 제 의지에 반하였든 아니든 제 아이를 유기했다는 사실을 고백합니다.

Because of the constant threat of being forcibly repatriated to North Korea, I was never able to sleep for more than one hour at a time; I would lay awake every night.” “Mothers cannot stay in China and must abandon their children, thinking that they will go back to get them someday, but there is no way to influence what the children are taught. The [Chinese] fathers tell them: “Your mother’s abandoned you.’ They don’t think about the kind of pain that causes a child.”북한으로의 강제 송환에 대한 끝없는 위협으로 인해 저는1시간 이상 잠을 이룰 수 없었고 매일 뜬눈으로 밤을 새웠습니다. 어머니들은 중국에 머무를 수 없었고 언젠가 그들이 다시 돌아가 아이들을 데리고 온다는 생각으로 그들의 아이들을 버려야 했습니다. 그러나 아이들이 배우는 내용을 통제할 방법은 없었습니다. [중국인] 아버지는 아이들에게 “너희 어머니는 너희들을 유기했다”고 말했습니다.그들은 아이들이 느낄 고통에 대해서는 생각하지 않습니다.The last time I spoke with my daughter in 2013, she said, ‘Mom, you’ve left me haven’t you. You hate me don’t you?’ When a child says that, her mother will be devastated, don’t you think? Have you ever said that to your mother? I bet not. This is not the kind of thing that should be said between a mother and her child. Even so, the daughter I have not seen since she was five years old repeated this to me endlessly. It seemed like my world was collapsing around me.2013년 제 딸과 마지막으로 대화했을 때 딸이“엄마, 엄마는 저를 떠났었죠? 엄마는 저를 싫어하죠?”라고 말했습니다. 아이가 이렇게 말하는데 충격 받지 않을 어머니가 어디 있을까요? 당신은 어머니께 이렇게 말해본 적 있습니까?저는 없을 것이라고 확신합니다. 이건 어머니와 아이 사이에 할 만한 말이 아닙니다.그런데 5살 이후로 만나본 적도 없는 딸이 저에게 이렇게 끊임없이 누차 말했습니다.세상이 무너지는 기분이었습니다.If we continue to ignore these problems, it will continue to be a huge obstacle for these women to adjust to South Korean society. They will pretend as if nothing happened or hide what happened. They will look ‘normal’ during the day, but will then cry at home alone, sobbing because they miss their children in China. However, it is different when their suffering is shared with other people.만약 우리가 이 문제를 지속적으로 외면한다면 탈북 여성들이 남한 사회에 적응하고 정착하는데 큰 장애물이 될 것입니다. 그들은 아무 일도 일어나지 않았던 것처럼 행동할 것이고 이미 일어난 일들을 숨길 것입니다. 그들은 낮에는‘정상적’으로 보일테지만 중국에 남겨둔 아이들을 그리워하면서 집에서 혼자 흐느껴 울 것입니다. 그러나 그들의 아픔을 다른 사람들과 나눌 수 있다면 이야기는 달라질 것입니다. ii. Anonymous Former North Korean Woman (This testimony was told to Rosa Park and is based on her recollection in July 2018.)ii. 익명의 여성 탈북자 (이 증언은 익명을 요청한 증언자의 기억에 근거하며 2018년7월 박인혜(Rosa Park)가 인터뷰 했습니다.)
She experienced sexual assault as a young woman in the DPRK, but had nobody to tell. When she defected, she was supposed to be taken to her father’s friend’s home, but instead, the broker sold her to a Chinese man. She luckily had a chance to escape and jumped from the second floor of the building and was able to catch a cab to get to her father’s friend’s home. She was badly hurt, but was able to recover in China for 10 months.
이 익명의 여성 탈북자는 젊은 시절 북한에서 성폭력을 당했지만 누구에게도 말할 수 없었습니다.그녀가 탈북했을 때 그녀는 아버지 친구의 집으로 가도록 되어있었지만 브로커는 그녀를 중국 남성에게 팔았습니다.그녀는 운 좋게도 집2층에서 뛰어내려 탈출하고는 택시를 타고 아버지 친구의 집으로 갔습니다. 그녀는 매우 심하게 다쳤지만 중국에서10개월간 지내면서 회복할 수 있었습니다.
While on the road to the U.S. and eventually South Korea, she was able to meet a very kind South Korean man, who helped her along the way. When she was imprisoned in Cambodia, he stayed with her the whole time because the guards were touching her inappropriately. They deported her to China.
미국으로(종국에는 남한으로) 오는 중에 그녀는 그녀를 도와준 매우 친절한 남한 남자를 만났습니다. 그녀가 캄보디아에 수감되어 있는 동안 경비원이 그녀를 부적절하게 만지려하자 그 남자는 그녀 곁에 함께 있었습니다. 그녀는 캄보디아에서 중국으로 강제 추방당하였습니다.
When she and the South Korean man made it to Vietnam, the bus driver who helped her proposed to her, but she refused. She reached a safe house in a third country. The safe house was managed by a South Korean missionary. All the girls knew that he chose a special girl to clean the house. He chose her. However, she quickly realized that he had only one girl clean the house for ulterior motives. When he tried to touch her, she screamed and said that she would report him, and he didn’t touch her again.
그녀와 남한 남자가 베트남으로 왔을 때 그녀를 도운 버스 운전사가 그녀에게 결혼하자고 제안하였지만 그녀는 거절하였습니다. 그녀는 제3국에 있는 안전가옥에 도착하였습니다. 안전가옥은 한국인 선교사가 운영하는 곳이었습니다.모든 여자아이들은 그 선교사가 특정한 여자아이를 선택하여 집안을 청소시킨다는 것을 알고 있었습니다. 그 선교사는 그녀를 선택하였습니다. 그러나 그녀는 그 선교사가 숨은 의도를 가지고 한명의 여자아이에게만 집 청소를 시킨다는 것을 알아챘습니다. 그 선교사가 그녀를 만지려하자 그녀는 소리를 지르고 그를 고발하겠다 말했습니다. 그 후 그 선교사는 그녀를 다시는 만지지 않았습니다.3) Abortion, Violence against Women, and Infanticide: Crimes against Humanity3) 낙태, 여성에 대한 폭력 그리고 영아살해: 인도에 반한 죄a) Abortion Policies[21]a) 낙태 정책Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that a central policy was issued to DPRK healthcare workers on October 8, 2015, directing gynecologists not to perform abortions or implant birth control devices in their patients, and stating that birth control measures are illegal.[22] Evidence suggests, however, that forced abortions are carried out in the DPRK’s detention facilities, especially when the unborn baby is suspected to be “half-Chinese.”
자유아시아방송(RFA)은2015년10월8일 산부인과 의사의 낙태 수술과 피임 시술을 금지하는 중앙 방침이 보건 부문 일꾼들에게 발령되었다고 보도했습니다. 그러나 특히 “태아의 아버지가 중국인”으로 의심 되는 경우 북한의 구류 시설에서 강제 낙태가 시행되고 있다는 증거가 발견되었습니다.

As HRNK has uncovered repeatedly in its research and reports, most recently in “The Hidden Gulag IV: Gender Repression & Prisoner Disappearances” by David Hawk, forced abortions are just one horrifying tactic the North Korean regime implements against women, something Mr. Hawk refers to in his report as a component of “gender repression.”
HRNK는 이에 대해 지속적으로 조사하여 보고서를 발간하였고, 특히 HRNK 데이비드 호크(David Hawk)의 최신 보고서“숨겨진 수용소IV: 성적 억압과 수감자 실종(The Hidden Gulag IV: Gender Repression & Prisoner Disappearances)”에서 강제 낙태는 북한 정권이 여성에게 시행하는 소름끼치는 행위 중 하나이고“성적 억압”의 한 종류라고 밝혔습니다.
Ms. Kim Min-ji, a former North Korean prisoner interviewed by Hawk, witnessed forced abortions during both of her forcible repatriations from China to the DPRK. “The first time, in 2008, a pregnant woman was forced to take some medicine, after which the baby was aborted. The second time, in 2012, the holding center authorities had a baby surgically removed from the womb of a woman who was in the ‘last days of pregnancy.’ The baby was killed.”[23]
데이비드 호크(David Hawk)가 인터뷰한 이전 수감자 김민지씨는 중국에서 북한으로의 두 번의 강제 송환 당시 강제 낙태를 목격했습니다. “첫 번째 송환 시기인2008년에는 임산부에 강제로 어떤 약을 먹도록 했고, 그 후 아이가 낙태되었습니다.두 번째 송환 시기인2012년에는 집결소 당국이 수술을 통해 임신 막바지인 여성의 자궁으로부터 아이를 분리했고 아이는 살해되었습니다."
According to one RFA source, “‘Punishments for those who perform illegal abortions and use contraceptive devices are already in place, but this new policy bans all kinds of abortions and birth control procedures, including even those performed at hospitals.’” Reported punishments for violating this policy include imprisonment for up to three years and heavy fines. Although the article predicts that the policy will not be effective in curbing these practices, it also highlights the apparent rationale behind the Kim regime’s policy: to hinder a “rapidly” declining birthrate.[24]
자유아시아방송의 소식통에 따르면 불법 낙태와 피임 시술을 처벌하는 법은 기존에도 있었지만, 이 새로운 정책은 병원에서 하는 낙태 수술과 피임 시술을 포함하여 모든 종류의 낙태와 피임을 금지하고 있습니다. 위반에 대한 처벌은3년 이하의 징역과 무거운 벌금입니다. “급격한” 출산률 감소를 저지하려는 김씨 정권의 정책 근거를 강조하고 있으나, 낙태와 피임을 감소시키는데 실효성은 없을 것이라고 판단하고 있습니다.
Data from The World Bank, however, suggests a slowly declining birth rate as opposed to a “rapidly” declining birth rate. According to the data, in 2012, the DPRK hit its lowest birth rate at 14.36 births per 1,000 people, but interestingly, the CIA’s World Factbook estimates that the DPRK’s birthrate in 2015 was actually 14.52 births/1,000, indicating a slight increase. When contrasted with South Korea’s birth rate, which has also declined since the 1960s and had a 2013 rate of 8.6 births per 1,000 people,[25] North Korea has a higher birth rate.[26] On its face, the new anti-abortion and birth control policy may be about countering a low birth rate in North Korea, but the regime may have other incentives for controlling its people in this way. As HRNK’s Executive Director, Greg Scarlatoiu, suggests, perhaps the policy has been implemented to “artificially increase the population, currently half that of South Korea's.”
그러나 세계은행의 자료에 의하면 북한의 출생률은“급격히” 감소하는게 아니라 서서히 감소하고 있습니다. 2012년 자료에 따르면 북한은1,000명당14.36명으로 가장 낮은 출생률을 기록했지만, 흥미롭게도 CIA월드 팩트북은 2015년 북한의 출생률이1,000명당14.52명으로 소폭 증가한 것으로 추산하고 있습니다. 1960년대부터 감소하여2013년1,000명당8.6명을 기록한 남한의 출생률과는 대조적으로 북한은 높은 출생률을 기록하고 있습니다. 표면상으로는 낙태와 피임을 금지하는 새로운 정책이 북한의 출생률 하락을 막은 것처럼 보입니다.그러나 북한 정권의 이러한 방침은이면에 또다른 목적을 가지고 있습니다. HRNK의 사무총장 그레그 스칼라튜(Greg Scarlatoiu)는 이 정책이“현재 남한 인구의 절반 밖에 안되는 인구를 인위적으로 증가시키기 위하여”시행되어 왔을 것이라고 말했습니다.

In striking contrast to this anti-abortion policy, though, former DPRK prisoner testimony documented in HRNK’s reports, such as in the aforementioned “The Hidden Gulag IV” (2015) and in “The Hidden Gulag Second Edition” (2012), tells the gruesome memories of severe trauma faced by former political prisoners. Mrs. Bang Mi-sun, during her pretrial detention experience in North Korea, recalled that:
낙태 금지 정책과는 대조적으로HRNK의 보고서에 기록된 이전 북한 수감자들의 증언은(앞서 언급한“감춰진 수용소IV (2015) (The Hidden Gualg IV” (2015))와“감춰진 수용소 제2판(The Hidden Gulag Second Edition (2012))” 등) 이전 수감자들이 심각한 트라우마로 인해 겪고 있는 잔인한 기억에 대해 말하고 있습니다. 방미선씨는 그녀가 북한에서 미결 구금 기간 겪은 경험에 대해 다음과 같이 말했습니다.In early 2002, at Musan An-jeon-bu, there was a group of ten pregnant women who were going to be taken to the local hospital to abort their “half-Chinese” babies. One twenty-one year old, who was seven months pregnant, refused to go to the hospital to give up the baby growing inside her. The guards put her on the floor on her back and placed a board over her swollen womb, and pistol-whipped two male prisoners until they agreed to jump up and down on the board. After five minutes or so, the baby was aborted, and the woman was taken to the hospital where she died. Mrs. Bang learned of her death when she was taken to the hospital for more treatments for her infected leg.“2002년 초반 무산 안전부에는 “태아의 아버지가 중국인”인 아이를 낙태시키기 위해 지역 병원으로 이송 될10명의 임산부가 있었습니다. 21살의7달 된 임산부는 병원으로 가는 것을 거부했습니다. 경비원은 그녀를 바닥에 눕힌 뒤 임신으로 부른 배 위에 판자를 놓고는 두 남성 수감자를 그들이 판자위에서 뛰겠다고 동의할 때까지 권총으로 마구 때렸습니다. 5분 가량이 지난 후 아이는 유산되었고 여성은 병원으로 실려가 사망했습니다. 방미선씨는 감염된 다리를 치료하기 위해 병원에 갔을 때 이 소식을 들었습니다.

Testimony from the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (UN COI) produced more of the same shocking stories of forced abortions in North Korea’s detention facilities reminiscent of the Nazi concentration camps. One witness recollected:
유엔 북한인권 조사위원회(UN COI)의 증언은 나치의 강제 수용소를 연상시키는 북한의 수용 시설에서 일어나는 강제 낙태에 대한 충격적인 이야기들을 전하고 있습니다. 한 증언자는 다음과 같이 회고했습니다.…there was this pregnant woman who was about 9 months pregnant. She worked all day. The babies who were born were usually dead, but in this case the baby was born alive. The baby was crying as it was born; we were so curious, this was the first time we saw a baby being born. So we were watching this baby and we were so happy. But suddenly we heard the footsteps. The security agent came in and this agent of the Bowibu [State Security Department] said that… usually when a baby is born we would wash it in a bowl of water, but this agent told us to put the baby in the water upside down. So the mother was begging. ‘I was told that I would not be able to have the baby, but I actually got lucky and got pregnant so let me keep the baby, please forgive me’, but this agent kept beating this woman, the mother who just gave birth. And the baby, since it was just born, it was just crying. And the mother, with her shaking hands she picked up the baby and she put the baby face down in the water. The baby stopped crying and we saw this water bubble coming out of the mouth of the baby. And there was an old lady who helped with the labour, she picked up the baby from the bowl of water and left the room quietly. So those kind of things repeatedly happened. That was in the detention centre in the city of Chongjin of Hamgyong Province.[27]수용소에 임신9개월차된 임산부가 있었습니다. 그녀는 하루 종일 일했습니다. 태어난 아이들은 보통 사망합니다. 하지만 이번에는 아이가 살아서 태어났습니다. 아이는 태어나면서 울었고, 우리는 아이가 태어난 것을 처음 보았기에 매우 신기했습니다. 그래서 우리는 이 아이를 보고 있었고 매우 행복했습니다. 그러나 갑자기 발걸음 소리가 들렸고 한 보위부 요원(국가 안전 보위부)이 들어왔습니다. 보통 아이가 태어나면 물이 담긴 그릇에 아이를 씻기지만 이 요원은 우리에게 아이를 물 속에 거꾸로 집어 넣으라고 명령하였습니다. 아이의 어머니는 사정했습니다. ‘제가 아이를 가질 수 없다고 들었습니다. 그러나 저는 운이 좋았고 임신을 하게 되었습니다. 그러니 이 아이를 기를 수 있게 해주십시오.제발 저를 용서해 주십시오.’ 그러자 이 요원은 방금 출산 한 여자를 때렸습니다.막 태어난 아이는 그저 울기만 했습니다. 아이의 어머니는 손을 떨며 아이를 들어 물속에 거꾸로 집어 넣었습니다. 아이는 울음을 그쳤고 우리는 아이의 입에서 거품이 나오는 것을 보았습니다.그리고는 출산을 도운 한 나이 많은 여성이 아이를 물 그릇에서 집어 조용히 방을 나갔습니다. 이러한 사건들은 반복해서 일어났습니다. 이 일은 함경북도 청진시 수용소에서 일어났습니다.
Unfortunately, the State’s efforts to control life and death in the DPRK amount to, at the least, a disproportionate impact on women, characterized as gender discrimination and repression, and at most, sexual violence in the prison camps so grave as to constitute crimes against humanity. The findings of the UN COI concluded the same in its 2014 report: “In the political prison camps of [North Korea], the inmate population has been gradually eliminatedthrough deliberate starvation, forced labour, executions, torture, rape and the denial of reproductive rights enforced through punishment, forced abortion and infanticide….These crimes against humanity entail extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence…” (emphasis added).
삶과 죽음을 통제하려는 북한의 시도는 작게는 성차별과 성적 억압, 그리고 많게는 인도에 반한 죄에 해당하는 정치범 수용소 내 성폭력 등에 이르고 있습니다. UN COI의 조사 결과는2014년 보고서와 같은 결론을 내렸습니다. “[북한] 정치범 수용소에서의 의도적인 굶주림, 강제 노동,처형, 고문, 강간 및 처벌을 통한 번식의 권리 부정, 강제 낙태,그리고 영아 살해로 인해수감자 수는 점차적으로 줄어들고 있습니다...반인도 범죄는몰살, 살인, 노예화, 고문, 구금, 강간, 강제 낙태 및 기타 성폭행을 수반합니다…”(강조는 필자).
The violent and inhuman state-sanctioned practice of forced abortions inside the detention facilities “regularly subject[s] women to a level of intentional and severe mental and physical suffering that satisfies the threshold of torture as defined under article 7 of the ICCPR.”[28]Furthermore, forced abortions violate the right of physical integrity and security of person, as well as sexual and reproductive rights.[29]
국가가 승인한 폭력적이고 비인간적인 수용소 내 강제 낙태로 인해“여성들은 ICCPR 제7조가 정의한 고문의 개념에 부합하는 정도의 고의적이고 극심한 정신적 신체적 고통을 겪고 있습니다.” 나아가 강제 낙태는 신체의 자유와 성적 자기결정권 그리고 번식의 권리를 침해한 것입니다.
Clearly, the DPRK regime does not consider its inmate population as regular citizens, even when it comes to imposing restrictions on birth control and abortion. The UN COI noted that North Korea even contravenes its own domestic law, “which prohibits the detention of women three months before or seven months after giving birth.”[30] This almost inherent discrimination is further exacerbated by the regime’s social class system, known as songbun, which views prisoners, particularly political prisoners, as having the lowest songbun (the hostile class) and the least perceived loyalty to the regime.[31]
북한 정권은 명백하게도 수감자를 일반 시민과 동일하게 보지 않으며 이는 피임과 낙태 제한 시행에서도 볼 수 있습니다. UN COI는 북한이 “출산 전3개월 또는 출산 후7개월 동안에는 여성의 구금을 금지한다”라고 명시된 국내 법도 위반했다고 지적했습니다. 이 내재된 차별은 특히 성분으로 알려진 사회 계층 시스템에 의해 더욱 악화되었습니다. 이 시스템하에서 정치범은 가장 낮은 성분(적대 계층), 즉 정권에 충성을 가장 적게 하는 계층으로 분류됩니다.
The North Korean regime might improve its declining birth rate if, for one, it stopped the horrendous practice of forced abortions inside its prison camps and did not detain innocent minors or pregnant women. Of course, for its regular citizens, creating a better economy–including providing adequate amounts of food and lowering the costs associated with schooling–would likely increase its birth rate too. In this case, adhering to basic human rights norms would give the regime what it wants: more North Korean citizens. Instead, the regime has chosen yet another method of controlling its citizens with this new policy that hypocritically ignores the ongoing state practice of forced abortions inside North Korea’s prison camp system. The North Korean regime is effectively ‘shooting itself in the foot’ by continuing to victimize women and unborn children inside its prison walls.
북한 정권이 정치범 수용소 내 참혹한 강제 낙태 행위를 중단하고 무고한 미성년자나 임산부를 구금하지 않는다면 감소 중인 출산률을 높일 수 있을 것입니다. 물론, 일반 주민에게 적절한 양의 음식을 제공하고 교육 관련 비용을 낮춤으로서 경제를 발전하는 것 또한 출생률을 높일 수 있습니다. 이 경우 기본적인 인권 원칙을 고수 할 때 인구 증가의 효과를 기대할 수 있을 것입니다. 그러나 북한 정권은 정치범 수용소 안에서 지속적으로 자행되는 강제 낙태를 위선적으로 무시하며 주민들을 통제하고 있습니다. 수용소의 여성과 태아를 계속하여 희생시키는 것은 북한 정권이 기본적으로 ‘자기 무덤’을 파는 것입니다.a) Testimony of Anonymous Former North Korean Woman, as told to Rosa Park in July 2018b) 2018년7월 박인혜(Rosa Park)가 인터뷰한 익명의 탈북 여성의 증언Men are first in North Korea. If women share too many of their opinions, it is not feminine and people think it is rude. Many North Korean husbands hit their wives because their personalities are fiery and impatient. They will hit their wives until their faces are all bruised. These women just accept it or they run away.북한에서는 남성이 우선시 됩니다. 만약 여성이 의견을 너무 많이 제시하면 사람들은 이를 여성스럽지 않고 무례하다고 생각합니다. 많은 북한의 남편들은 성격이 불같고 참을성이 없어서 그들의 부인을 폭행합니다. 그들은 부인의 얼굴 전체가 멍이 들때까지 때립니다. 여성들은 이를 받아들이거나 도망을 갑니다.There is no protection for those women. The neighborhood may help. The police may try to help and tell the husband not to hit their wife, but there is no law. They do not get in trouble unless the wife dies from injuries. I have not seen this happen.북한에는 이러한 여성들에 대한 보호가 없습니다. 이웃이 이 여성들을 도울 때는 있습니다. 공안도 여성들을 도와 남편들에게 부인들을 때리지 말라고 말하기도 하지만 이와 관련한 법은 없습니다. 남편들은 자신의 부인이 상해를 입어 사망하지 않는 한 곤란에 처하지 않습니다. 저는 이러한 경우를 본적이 없습니다.There is nothing to eat, so North Korean women are lied to so that they can make money in China without knowing that they will be sold to Chinese men. Some are like this. Some who do know still go because they want to make money. They would rather make money in China rather than make no money in North Korea. There is so much sexual assault in North Korea, but there are no laws to protect them. Women suffer, but don’t say anything. 먹을 것이 없다보니 대부분의 북한 여성들은 그들이 중국 남성에게 팔려간다는 사실을 모른 채 중국에서 돈을 벌 수 있다고 속임을 당합니다. 몇몇 북한 여성들은 돈을 벌고 싶기 때문에 이러한 사실을 알면서도 중국에 갑니다. 그들은 북한에서 돈 없이 사는니 중국에서 돈을 벌기를 원합니다.북한 내에서는 많은 성폭력이 이루어지고 있지만 그들을 보호할 어떠한 법도 없습니다. 여성들은 고통을 당하지만 어떠한 말도 할 수 없습니다.There is a lot of sexual assault by soldiers, especially against minors. Girls who are victims don’t understand what is happening to them and they are scared of getting in trouble. The concept of sexual assault does not exist in North Korea.특히 미성년자를 노린 군인들의 성폭력이 빈번합니다. 희생자인 여자 아이들은 그들에게 무슨 일이 일어났는지 모른 채 문제가 생길까봐 두려워합니다. 북한에는 성폭력이라는 개념이 존재하지 않습니다.b) Criminal Code Penalties Related to Violence against Women and Childrenc) 여성과 아이에 대한 폭력과 관련한 형사 처벌
HRNK translated the DPRK’s 2012 Criminal Code and compared it to a previously translated 2009 Criminal Code.[32]Based on this comparison, penalties related to violence against women and children decreased from 2009 to 2012. Examples include the following:
HRNK는 북한의2012년 형사법을 번역했고 이것을 이전에 번역된2009년 형사법과 비교하였습니다. 이 비교를 통해2009년부터2012년 사이 여성과 아이들을 대상으로 한 폭력에 대한 처벌이 약화되었다는 것을 확인했습니다. 이에 대한 예시는 다음과 같습니다.

i. Abduction of Children. (Art. 277 in 2012; Art. 289 in 2009): the punishment for child abduction decreased from “reform through labour of less than three years” in 2009 to less than one year in the 2012 code.i. 아동 유괴. (2012년 형법 제277조, 2009년 형법 제289조): 아동 유괴에 대한 처벌이2009년“3년 이하의 노동교화형”에서2012년“1년 이하”로 약화되었습니다.

ii. Rape. (Art. 279 in 2012; Art. 293 in 2009): The penalty for a “grave offense” of rape, discussed as “A man who rapes a woman by using violence or threats or by taking advantage of her helpless status,” decreased from “reform through labour for more than ten years” in 2009 to “less than ten years” in 2012. ii. 강간. (2012년 형법 제279조, 2009년 형법 제293조): “폭행, 협박하여 또는 구원을 받지 못할 상태를 이용하여” 여성을 강간하는 것으로 정의되는 “정상(情狀)이 무거운” 강간에 대한 처벌이2009년“10년 이상의 노동교화형”에서2012년“10년 이하”로 약화되었습니다. iii. Forcing Subordinate Women to have Sexual Intercourse. (Art. 280 in 2012; Art. 294 in 2009): In 2009, “A man who forces a woman who is his subordinate to have sexual intercourse with him shall be punished by short-term labour for less than two years,” but in the 2012 code the punishment was for “less than one year.”iii. 복종관계에 있는 여성을 강요한 성관계. (2012년 형법 제280조, 2009년 형법 제294조): 2009년 형법에서는“복종관계에 있는 여성을 강요하여 성교한 자는 2년 이하의 노동단련형에 처한다” 라고 규정하고 있습니다. 그러나2012년 형법에서는 처벌이“1년 이하”로 약화되었습니다. iv. Sexual Intercourse with a Minor. (under 15) (Art. 281 in 2012; Art. 295 in 2009): the punishment decreased from “reform through labour for less than five years” in 2009 to “less than one year” in 2012. For a “grave offense,” the punishment decreased from “more than five years but less than ten years” to “less than five years” in the 2012 code.iv. 미성년자와의 성관계. (15세 이하) (2012년 형법 제281조, 2009년 형법 제295조): 2009년“5년 이하의 노동교화형”에서2012년“1년 이하”로 처벌이 약화되었습니다. “정상(情狀)이 무거운” 미성년자 강간에 대해서는 2009년 “5년 이상10년 이하”에서2012년에 “5년 이하”로 처벌이 약화되었습니다.4) Treatment of North Korean Women in Society, Including in Labor Brigades and the Military4.노동단련대와 군대를 포함한 사회에서 북한 여성들에 대한 처우

a) Testimony of AnonymousFormer North Korean Woman, as told to Rosa Park in July 2018a) 2018년7월 박인혜(Rosa Park)가 인터뷰한 익명의 탈북 여성의 증언Before the Great Famine, the men received money from the public distribution system (PDS). For women, it was very difficult after the Great Famine because women would have to earn money on top of their home responsibilities. Even though men no longer earn the family’s income, with the patriarchal society, the men still want to be at the top and tell the women what to do.고난의 행군 이전에 남성들은 배급제를 통해 돈을 지급 받았습니다. 고난의 행군 이후 여성들은 집안일과 더불어 돈도 벌어야 했기 때문에 그들의 사정은 매우 힘들어졌습니다. 가부장적인 사회에서 남성들은 수입이 없어도 여전히 집 안에서 우월하고 여성에게 명령하고 싶어했습니다.There is more responsibility as a woman because they have to take care of their family and children. After the Great Famine, they also have to earn money at the market because their husbands have to go to work.여성들은 가족과 아이들을 돌보아야 했기 때문에 더 많은 의무를 지고 있습니다. 고난의 행군 이후에는 여성들도 시장에서 돈을 벌어야 했습니다.I did not know about equality between men and women because men’s work and women’s work were different. Men had to work outside or at factories and had to serve in the military. Women have to be feminine. 남성의 일과 여성의 일이 달랐기 때문에 저는 남녀 평등에 대해 알지 못했습니다. 남성들은 밖이나 공장에서 일을 하고 군복무를 해야 했습니다. 여성은 여성스러워야 했습니다.Kim Yo-jong [Kim Jong-un’s sister] is very special. Most North Korean women cannot get as far as her. They have many limits. Most men undermine and look down on women, especially in the government. 90% of the police officers are men. Women do more secretarial work. 김여정(김정은의 친동생)은 매우 특별합니다. 대부분 북한 여성들은 그녀의 자리까지 오를 수 없습니다.북한에는 여성들에 대한 많은 제약이 있습니다. 대부분의 남성들, 특히 정부 기관에서는 여성들을 낮추어보고 깎아내립니다. 경찰의 90%는 남성입니다. 여성들은 주로 비서직에 근무합니다.I never learned about equality. I went to a special school with only women in my class. There were 2 classes with men and 2 classes with women. There were 35 girls in my class for 6 years. We did not have a relationship with the men’s classes. We had to go through military training with physical exercise even though we were women, but not as much as the men had to. I could not do woodwork or use a hammer as a woman. However, I had to do logging along with the men. Many things changed with the Great Famine. I did not notice many differences between women and men. 저는 평등에 대해 배운 적이 없습니다. 저는 반에 여자만 있는 특별한 학교에 다녔습니다. 학교에는2개의 남자 반과2개의 여자 반이 있었습니다. 저희 반에는6년간35명의 여자아이들이 있었습니다. 우리는 남자 반 친구들과 어울리지 않았습니다. 남성만큼은 아니지만 여성임에도 불구하고 육체 운동을 동반한 군사 훈련을 받아야 했습니다. 저는 여성으로서 목공이나 망치를 사용하는 일을 할 수 없었습니다. 그럼에도 저는 남자들과 함께 벌목을 해야 했습니다. 많은 것들이 고난의 행군으로 인해 변했습니다.저는 남성과 여성의 차이를 많이 느끼지 못했습니다.b) Criminal Repression of Women in North Korea[33]b) 북한 내 여성에 대한 억압 범죄
After the Great Famine in the 1990s, thousands of male soldiers starved to death and women from 17 to 20 years of age were required to enlist in order to fill the ranks. Now, the Korean People’s Army (KPA) is composed of about half a million women. Even if joining the KPA for a woman means improvements in her social status, women face a completely different set of obstacles in life from that of their male counterparts, often ending up as sex slaves for their senior officers.[34]
1990년대 고난의 행군 이후에 수천명의 남성 군인들이 굶어 죽었고17세부터20세의 여성들은 그 결원을 충원하기 위해 군에 입대해야 했습니다. 현재 조선인민군은 약50만 명의 여성들로 구성되어 있습니다. 조선인민군에 여성이 입대한다는 사실은 여성의 사회적 지위가 상승했음을 의미할 수 있으나, 여성들은 종종 상관의 성노예가 되는 등 삶에서 남성과는 전혀 다른 장애물을 마주하고 있습니다.
Moreover, high-ranking Korean Workers’ Party (KWP) officials can benefit from the so called “satisfaction” or “pleasure” squads (man-jok-jo)—a group of young women and girls expected to satisfy any request, from dancing and singing to becoming concubines—established by Kim Il-sung. In 2011, after Kim Jong-il passed away, the “pleasure” squad was disbanded, and now Kim Jong-un is believed to be reforming it.[35]Soldiers are regularly becoming customers for prostitutes and in order to afford them, they raid civilian homes.[36]The worst treatment is in the political prison camps, where guards and officials rape girls and women, and then kill them in order to conceal the crimes.[37]
나아가 고위급 조선노동당 당원들은 춤을 추고 노래를 부르거나 첩이 됨으로서 모든 요구를 만족시켜주는 김일성 작(作) 여성 및 여자아이 집단인 소위 “만족조” 또는 “기쁨조”로부터 혜택을 얻습니다. 2011년 김정일 사망 이후 “기쁨조”는 해산되었고 김정은이 재구성 할 것으로 예상되고 있습니다. 군인들은 정기적으로 성매매의 고객이 되고 화대를 지불하기 위해 민간인의 집을 습격합니다. 최악의 상황은 당국자들이 여자아이들과 여성들을 강간하고 범죄를 은폐하기 위해 살해하는 정치범 수용소에서 일어납니다.
The objectification, abuse, and rape of women are also increasing the number of sexually transmitted diseases, which is becoming a serious issue among soldiers in the KPA. Inspections and restrictions have been imposed, but never truly implemented. “The Kim Jong-un regime is keeping quiet about the crisis of sexually transmitted diseases in the North Korean military. He does not ask for outside help because the existence of this kind of crisis among his soldiers is extremely embarrassing.”[38]
여성에 대한 성적 대상화, 학대 그리고 강간은 인민군 장병들 사이에서 심각한 문제가 된 성병을 확산시켰습니다. 감찰과 통제가 지시 되었지만 실제로 시행된 적은 없습니다. “김정은 정권은 북한 군대 내의 성병 문제에 대해 함구하고 있습니다. 김정은은 군대에서 일어나는 이러한 문제가 굉장히 부끄러워 이를 해결하기 위한 도움을 외부에 구하지 않고 있습니다.”
As mentioned above by Anonymous Former North Korean Woman, “There is a lot of sexual assault by soldiers, especially against minors. Girls who are victims don’t understand what is happening to them and they are scared of getting in trouble. The concept of sexual assault does not exist in North Korea.”익명의 탈북 여성이 위에서 언급한 바와 같이“특히 미성년자를 대상으로 군인들이 저지르는 성폭력이 빈번합니다. 희생자인 여자 아이들은 그들에게 무엇이 일어나고 있는지 모르고 그저 문제가 발생할까봐 두려워합니다. 북한에는 성폭력이라는 개념이 존재하지 않습니다.”
While men, completely controlled by the regime, end up working for the government or the army, women normally stay at home after they have children and are not considered “important” in the patriarchal North Korean society, especially in the rural areas. According to Greg Scarlatoiu, the Executive Director of HRNK:
북한 정권의 완전한 지배를 받는 남성들은 정부나 군대를 위해 일을 하는 동안 여성들은 아이를 가진 후 주로 집에 있습니다. 그리고 가부장적인 북한 사회(특히 지방)에서 여성들은 “중요하게” 여겨지지 않습니다. HNRK의 사무총장 그레그 스칼라튜(Greg Scarlatoiu)는 다음과 같이 말했습니다.Once they get married, North Korean women no longer have to spend as much time working in public mobilization campaigns, and they have more time to dedicate to the home front … so, it is primarily women who get arrested and imprisoned for having crossed the border without government approval, or for perceived wrongdoing at the markets.[39]일단 결혼을 하면 북한 여성들은 노동 동원에 더 이상 많은 시간을 할애하지 않아도 됩니다. 그리고 그들은 가정에 더 헌신할 시간을 가집니다. 그래서 당국의 허가 없이 국경을 건넌 행위 또는 시장에서의 부정 행위를 의심 받고 체포, 감금되는 것은 주로 여성들입니다. c) Testimony of Hye-soo Kim (a pseudonym)c) 김혜수(가명)씨의 증언
On March 8, 2018, HRNK Senior Adviser Joseph Bermudez conducted an interview with former North Korean Hye-soo Kim (a pseudonym) regarding her experiences with the Worker-Peasant Red Guard, College Training Corps, and mobile labor brigades. Ms. Kim stated that she knew very little about the Worker-Peasant Red Guard and College Training Corps but provided the following insights:
2018년3월8일HRNK의 수석 고문 조셉 버뮤데즈(Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr)는 탈북인 김혜수(가명)씨와 노농적위대, 교도대 그리고 노동단련대에 대한 그녀의 경험에 대해 인터뷰 했습니다.김씨는 노농적위대와 교도대에 대해 자세히 알고 있지 않았지만 다음과 같이 밝혔습니다. If you go onto college you have to join the College Training Corps. They are organized along military lines. They practice with real weapons and live ammunition. Including grenades. When leaving college, you go into the Korean People’s Army or Worker-Peasant Red Guard.북한 사람이 대학에 가면 그들은 교도대에 가야만 합니다. 교도대는 군대의 일부로 조직됩니다. 그들은 수류탄 등 실제 무기와 실탄으로 훈련합니다.그들은 대학을 졸업하면 조선인민군에 입대하거나 노동적위대에 들어갑니다.

[4]Many North Korean refugees or “defectors” adopt a new name when they obtain South Korean citizenship papers in order to protect their relatives remaining in North Korea. Other escapees do not want even their South Korean name to be used, lest they can be traced by North Korean authorities to their family members in North Korea.

[28]Id. Article 1 of the Convention against Torture, which also informs the definition of torture under ICCPR, article 7, defines torture as any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. On the recognition of forced abortion as an act of torture see the reports of successive Special Rapporteurs on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment, A/HRC/22/53 (2013), para. 48; A/HRC/7/3, para. 69. See also Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 28, CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.10, para. 11.

[29]Id. See Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences, E/CN.4/1999/68/Add.4, paras. 45, 49. See also Beijing Platform for Action, adopted at the Fourth World Conference for Women (1995), para. 115; Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 19, A/47/38, para. 22; CEDAW/C/CHN/CO/6, para. 32.

[31]For a detailed examination of the songbunsystem, see Robert Collins, Marked for Life: Songbun, North Korea’s Social Classification System (Washington, DC, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, 2012), https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_Songbun_Web.pdf.

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The views and opinions expressed here are those of the authors' and not those of any other person, organization, or entity; they are the authors' alone. Specifically, they do not represent the views of the Board of Directors of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) nor necessarily reflect the official policy or position of HRNK.